Contains detailed specifics on how use this nonfiction series to teach to the Standards in

✔ Reading: Foundational Skills

✔ Reading: Informational Text

✔ History/Social Studies

✔ Writing

✔ Science and Technical Subjects

✔ Language

✔ Speaking and Listening

scholastic.com/discovermore

Teaching to the Common Core State Standards

with

Grades PreK–8

An Immersive Learning ExperienceThe Scholastic Discover More series submerges readers in new, fascinating worlds and motivates them to become lifelong readers.

• The fact-packed text and high-impact photographs will help students build knowledge networks and analyze complex text.

• For each book there is a free digital companion that extends learning by engaging students through games, videos, and additional vocabulary and informational text.

Text Features Appropriate for Each Stage of Learning There are three levels of books—Emergent (PreK–Grade 1), Confident (Grades 2–4), and Expert (Grades 5–8)—as well as the Discover More Readers, which are short, leveled chapter books for various grades.

• The complexity of text and the difficulty of academic and domain-specific vocabulary increase through the levels.

• Text features help students easily see important information and understand the meaning of the text.

• All of the books contain a glossary and an index to help students locate information so they can begin to answer their own questions and monitor their reading.

• Information is not only presented through text, but through visual presentations like charts, time lines, flowcharts, graphs, and lists of stats, which help students understand advanced concepts and also introduce math skills.

Learning through TechnologyEvery Scholastic Discover More book, at each level, has a digital companion to extend learning from the book to the computer. Each digital companion book has a Help Page, which shows the special features students can access.

You can download a FREE sample digital companion book for each level by visiting scholastic.com/discovermore and entering the codes below.

• The digital companions for the Emergent Reader books reinforce important ideas through math and literacy games, build a network of knowledge through videos, introduce academic and domain-specific vocabulary, and provide opportunities for students to use computers for learning. DISCMOREEMER

• The digital companions for the Confident Reader books continue to expand students’ ability to read informational text through glossary entries, encyclopedia entries, complex graphs, time lines, stats, and more complex academic and domain-specific vocabulary. Videos provide real experiences to cement their knowledge network, and quizzes check their comprehension. DISCMORECONF

• The digital companions for the Expert Reader books provide students the chance to become real experts in the topic by focusing on specific concepts. Students will learn from eyewitness accounts, videos, maps, photo galleries, and through additional academic and domain-specific vocabulary. DISCMOREEXPT

• The digital companions for the Discover More Readers provide grade-appropriate activities for students that reinforce reading comprehension. Students will answer text-based questions, decode text across disciplines, learn by doing, and integrate information from multiple sources. DISCMOREREAD

Teaching with Scholastic Discover More Scholastic Discover More is a groundbreaking, highly visual and immersive new nonfiction series that offers today’s kids compelling entry points to learning. With its multifaceted ways of learning, it offers many rich and varied tools to teach the Common Core State Standards, helping make sure that your students are on the track to college and career readiness. All levels of the books contain grade-appropriate academic and domain-specific vocabulary as well as complex text that is both engaging and motivating.

Use the Scholastic Discover More books to teach students not only important informational facts, but also the skills necessary to gather meaning from expository text and to gain proficiency in foundational skills, writing, speaking and listening, language, history/social studies, and science and technical studies.

DISCOVER MORE TIP: Differentiate instruction by using words from the Discover More books to help small groups focus on high-frequency words, concepts of print, the alphabetic principle, and phonological awareness.

DISCOVER EVEN MORE: Project pictures from the digital companion and ask students to raise their hand when they see a picture that contains the specific phoneme spoken.

1) Reread the sentence, paragraph, or page.

2) Use pictures to help figure out the meaning.

3) Try to think of a word that would make sense in the sentence.

4) Check to see if the definition is located on the page or in the glossary.

5) Use a dictionary to check the meaning and pronunciation.

EMERGENT READER BOOKS: Practicing Phonological Skills

CONFIDENT READER BOOKS: Reading Multisyllabic Words

EXPERT READER BOOKS: Mastering Morphology

DISCOVER MORE READERS: Cluing into Context

ir-

ir-regular

ir-responsibleir-rational

ir-relevant

Use the words in the Scholastic Discover More books to play phonemic awareness games. Find practice words in the glossary, the text, and from the digital companion. For example, when reading Animal Babies, try these activities:

Teach students to look for common prefixes, suffixes, and Greek and Latin roots as they try to figure out the pronunciations and meanings of new words. As a review, copy a page from the Expert Reader book the students are reading and ask them to look for a particular morpheme (word part, unit of meaning). Ask students to read the text and underline that morpheme throughout the page. Then ask students to list the morphemes and the words in which they occur in the book and create a web. Discuss the meaning of the morpheme and how it changes the meaning of the word. Brainstorm other words that contain the same morpheme and add them to the web.

Students need strategies to check if they are reading unfamiliar words correctly, to ensure they comprehend the text. When students come across a challenging word, guide them to:

Reading: Foundational SkillsTo help students become proficient readers, differentiate instruction to ensure all students in Grades K–5 learn print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency.

Teach students to attack multisyllabic words instead of giving up on new and unfamiliar academic and domain-specific words. Stamp your feet to demonstrate the syllable breaks as you teach these six syllable types from Dinosaurs:

• Closed Syllables have a short vowel and end in a consonant. fos-sil

• Open Syllables have a long vowel sound and end in a vowel. tri-cer-a-tops

• Consonant + -le, -el, or -al Syllables end with the /ul/ sound. an-i-mal

• VCe (vowel-consonant-e) Syllables contain the vowel-consonant-e pattern, which usually means the vowel will have a long sound. cop-ro-lite

• Vowel Team Syllables contain two vowel letters that stand for one vowel sound. crea-tures

• r-controlled Vowel Syllables feature a vowel followed by the letter r, which can change the sound the vowel stands for. rap-tor

• Add a phoneme: egg = leg, beg, Meg

• Substitute a phoneme: fish = wish, dish

• Read a sentence using one word with a wrong phoneme and ask students to choose the correct phoneme. A chock slowly loses its fur. (chick)

EMERGENT READER BOOKS: Reading Pictures

CONFIDENT READER BOOKS: Finding Important Information

Text FeaturesTable of

contents

Photographs

Typeface

Maps/ charts/ graphs

Index Captions

Labels

Headings

Glossary

Reading: Informational TextUse the Scholastic Discover More books to teach students how to read complex informational text by teaching them about key details, craft and structure, and integrating knowledge and ideas.

Model: Let’s open to pages 6 and 7 of Farm and look closely at the words and the pictures. What do you see on this page? Yes, right in the center is a big chicken. What do these other animals have in common with the chicken? Exactly, they are all birds. Now I’m going to read the words at the top of the page. I know they are important because they are very big. This is the heading. It says, “farm birds.” Let’s look on the bottom of page 7. I see smaller pictures of the birds, and they all have words next to them. What do you think those words say? That’s right! They are the names of the animals. Let’s look at the first one. I see the word begins with the letter d. I think that is a duck. It begins with the letter d, like duck, and ducks sometimes live on farms, so I think that word says, “duck.” Let’s check the next one out together.

Early readers will be transported to other places as they look at the photos in the Scholastic Discover More books, but they need help connecting the pictures to the words. Spend time explaining the relationship between words and the pictures of places, things, animals, or people they represent. Try modeling this example that’s based on Farm.

When you introduce Scholastic Discover More books to your students, allow them time to sit with a partner or small group and look through the books. Let them know that the group will be discussing the things they notice about the books. Once they have had enough time, draw a semantic web on chart paper and ask the students to help you fill it in. See sample at right.

As students name the text features, write them on the semantic map and then ask questions to help them understand the roles the features play in comprehension:

• How is the table of contents helpful?

• Why are there captions with the pictures?

• Why are some words bigger than others?

• What do headings tell you?

• How would this book be different if it had no pictures?

• Why are some pictures labeled?

• Why are graphs, time lines, and maps used?

• How is the glossary helpful?

• How would you use the index?

When reading informational text, students will not only learn facts but will begin to make connections between events and people. One connection students will frequently see in the Scholastic Discover More books is cause and effect. For example, when reading the book Disasters, guide students to fi nd the cause and effects of each natural disaster. Help students to track cause and effect as they read with a chart.

Independent reading requires that students not only read the words, but also understand the words. Provide strategies to help monitor their reading, fi nd the most important idea or main topic, and locate the key details. Ask students to cite the information in a chart. For example, after reading the chapter on Incredible Fish in Shark Attack!, students might fi ll out the chart like this:

Main Topic: Key Details: Page:

Sharks are amazing fi sh!

The whale shark is as big as a T. rex. 6

The dwarf lanternshark has a belly that glows. 7

The swell shark can drink water and double its size to protect itself.

8

The shortfi n mako can leap twenty feet out of the water.

8

Event: Cause: Effect:

Tsunami

The cause of a tsunami is an earthquake below the seabed that shifts seafl oor rocks and creates a huge ridge of water.

The effect is fast-traveling waves that spread out, and as they approach land, slow down, grow taller, and devastate communities.

DISCOVER MORE TIP: Teach the difference between narrative and informational text so students understand the purpose the author is conveying as soon as they start reading.

DISCOVER EVEN MORE: Review the Help feature of the digital companion so students can investigate each clickable button independently.

EXPERT READER BOOKS: Finding Cause and Effect

DISCOVER MORE READERS: Unlocking the Main Topic and Key Details

10 11101010101010101010101010

Denticles are rough scales that

protect a shark’s body.

A shark takes in water to breathe.The water leaves the body through the gill slits.

Teeth are the bony parts of a shark. A shark can use 30,000 teeth in its life.

Fins help a shark move forward, balance, and steer.

Amazing bodies Why have sharks survived so long? Their amazing bodies make them the best hunters in the ocean. A shark’s skeleton is made of cartilage. Cartilage bends more easily than bone does. It helps the shark twist and turn in the water.

Sharks never run out of teeth. If a tooth falls out, a new one moves in.

cartilageKAHR-tuh-lij

Your ears and nose are formed by

strong, rubbery cartilage.

NEW WORD

SAY IT OUT LOUD

It’s a fact!

Great white shark

History/Social StudiesTeach students in Grades 6–8 to use strategies for reading History/Social Studies texts, such as comparing sources.

WritingHelp students increase the sophistication of their writing by using different text types and purposes, creating and distributing their writing in various ways, and using research to build and present knowledge.

• Can I break it into smaller sections?

• Can I write headings that would grab the reader’s attention?

• What else might a reader want to know about the topic?

• Is there a different point of view I can try that might make the topic more vivid and more exciting to the reader?

• Can I add pictures, maps, charts, or graphs to clarify my ideas?

EXPERT READER BOOKS: Analyzing Sources

EMERGENT READER BOOKS: Stating Opinions

CONFIDENT READER BOOKS: Organizing Ideas

Model: We have read the book Puppies and Kittens. I have learned many fun and interesting facts about puppies and kittens. Now I’m going to think about all the information we read and decide which pet is my favorite! It was a hard decision, but I’ve decided that kittens are my favorite because I like the way they pounce and jump! Now think about all the information and decide which is your favorite. Write down your favorite, a fact from the book that convinced you it is your favorite, and a closing thought to end your piece. Try this sentence starter when you are ready to write: My favorite pet is ___________.

The Scholastic Discover More books contain both primary and secondary sources. Explain to students that primary sources are materials produced by someone who was at the scene of the event. They include photos, paintings, videos, letters, speeches, poems, and eyewitness accounts.

Secondary sources contain information that has been analyzed by someone else or rewritten, like the information in most textbooks. Guide students to analyze the text and find the differences and similarities between primary and secondary sources.

Guide students to use dictation, illustrations, or writing to compose a piece of opinion writing. Ask students to choose a topic, state an opinion, supply a reason, and provide closure at the end. As an example, try modeling your thought process to show them how it is done.

One challenge writers face is writing a piece and then deciding that they would like to write it another way. Guide students to edit a piece of writing they already worked on and try a new approach. Help students look at organization, additional text features, additional details, different points of view, pictures, and graphs. For example, if students write a piece about life in the Amazon after reading Rainforest, they may decide to write from the point of view of a child living in the Amazon or they may decide to break up their story using text features. Demonstrate your thought process on a shared piece of writing by asking these questions:

DISCOVER MORE TIP: Encourage students to use academic and domain-specific words in their writing.

DISCOVER EVEN MORE: Access the Explore More page in the digital companion to World War II to find out more about the eyewitness accounts through websites and additional books.

Science and Technical SubjectsGuide students in Grades 6–8 to use strategies to read Science and Technical Subjects, such as finding central ideas, considering the author’s choices, and understanding craft and structure.

Your students will be excited to write their own news report. Support students as they choose a topic from the book, list key details, and include a photo with a caption. If students are reading Shark Attack!, they might consider writing a

news report about the number of sharks that are killed; their report can include information from the conservationist and discuss what can be done to stop the killing. Guide them to answer these questions: who, what, where, when, and how.

Help students stay on track as they read through complex science text. Think about asking students one of these questions as they read:

• What are the central ideas of the text?

• What point is the author trying to make?

• What steps were taken to carry out a procedure or experiment?

• How is the information in the book different or the same as the information in the digital companion or other resources?

EXPERT READER BOOKS: Analyzing Complex Text

DISCOVER MORE READERS: Scripting the News

EXPERT READER BOOKS: Using Focusing Questions

The Scholastic Discover More books provide students the chance to use evidence to support analysis, reflection, and research. Guide students to write short research projects using self-generated questions. After choosing a topic, have students use text, time lines, vocabulary, maps, and eyewitness accounts to write their piece. Also, have them use the digital component to add to their wealth of knowledge.

Walk students through an example to help them learn how to use the table of contents and index to locate relevant information in the book and the digital companion. For

example, a student might decide, after reading a section of World War II, that their question is, “How was life difficult for the children of the Blitzkrieg? How does that compare to the lives of other children during the war?” In addition to the book’s factual information about the Blitz, they can also read the eyewitness account of a British artillery soldier. Then students can access the digital companion to read another eyewitness account of a child evacuee, watch a video of Anne Frank’s hideout, and learn about child heroes and heroines. They can gather all of this relevant information using quotes and paraphrasing to answer their questions.

DISCOVER MORE TIP: Divide the book into sections or chapters as students learn how to write about a topic or analyze a topic.

DISCOVER EVEN MORE: Use the digital companion to show students videos and interviews with important people, and guide them to include additional information in their writing.

DISCOVER MORE TIP: To keep track of evidence and new words as students read, have them use sticky notes or a reading notebook to write down ideas.

DISCOVER EVEN MORE: Project the digital companion on the whiteboard or on a screen to model reading informational text fluently, using context-clues to figure out meaning, and using text features to pick out important information.

Work

Works

Working

Worked

EMERGENT READER BOOKS: Understanding Infl ectional Endings

CONFIDENT READER BOOKS: Using the Vocabulary Routine

LanguageHelp your students demonstrate a range of skills and applications, including conventions of Standard English, knowledge of language, and vocabulary acquisition and use.

As students face the challenge of reading unfamiliar words, teach them to look at all parts of the word to fi nd meaning. Look through the Scholastic Discover More book you are reading with the class and fi nd words that contain the infl ectional endings -s, -es, -ing, and -ed. Write each infl ectional ending on a colored index card. Write each root word on an index card of another color. Have students work with a partner or small group to form new words with the infl ectional endings. Have students describe how the infl ectional ending changes the word and have them use it in a sentence. Then draw a web so students can easily see how each word changes. This activity can also be used with affi xes.

The Scholastic Discover More books contain an abundance of academic and domain-specifi c words that need to be explicitly taught. Teach students words from the glossary and throughout the text, providing repeated exposures.

1. Say the new word and ask students to rate the word.

1=I don’t know the word.2=I’ve seen or heard it.3=I think I know the word.4=I know it and use it.

2. Pronounce the new word, break down the syllables, and ask students to repeat it.

3. Explain the meaning in student-friendly language and discuss the part of speech.

4. Provide examples of the word that are meaningful to the students.

5. Ask questions using the word and ask students to answer in a complete sentence that contains the word.

6. To review more than one word that has been explicitly taught, give students cloze sentences and ask them to provide the correct word.

The Sun is at the center of our solar system. The biggest objects are the eight primary planets.

Mars

Earth

Venus

Mercury

Jupiter SaturnUranus

Neptune

The SolarSystem

MercuryMercury is the closest planet to the Sun. It is very hot on Mercury.

VenusVenus is a similar size to Earth but it is surrounded by poisonous clouds.

EarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun and so far it is the only planet known to have life.

MarsMars is known as the red planet. Space probes have landed on Mars.

JupiterJupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system. It is a giant gas ball.

SaturnSaturn has the largest and most spectacular rings around it.

UranusUranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It has rings, but they are very faint.

NeptuneNeptune is the farthest planet from the Sun. It is very chilly and dark on Neptune.

Saturn is the farthest planet from Earth that you can see without a telescope.

AntonymsPreserve

Stagnate

Academic WordTransform

Word FamilyForm

Transformation

Transfer

SynonymsChange

Alter

EXPERT READER BOOKS: Using Word Relationships

DISCOVER MORE READERS: Learning Greek and Latin Roots

Academic words need to be taught explicitly since students will frequently encounter these words in complex text. Teach students to think about the word family, synonyms, and antonyms by using the example below.

Many domain-specific words contain Greek and Latin roots. Explicitly teach these roots and their meanings to students so they can break down new words into familiar word parts. Use word webs to help students see the meaning, brainstorm other words, and write a sentence.

Meaning:See

Root:vis-

Other Words:Invisible, Invisibility, Improvise, Activism,

Advise

Sentence: The park is visible from my window.

Word: Visible

DISCOVER MORE TIP: As you read aloud, discuss and provide examples of the four different types of sentences: declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory.

DISCOVER EVEN MORE: Have students keep a reading notebook to write down new words and definitions from the text and digital companion. Ask students to refer to these words when they are reading and writing.

EMERGENT READER BOOKS: Reading Pictures

CONFIDENT READER BOOKS: Comprehending Media Formats

EXPERT READER BOOKS: Translating with Words

DISCOVER MORE READERS: Reporting the News

Speaking and ListeningTeach students to gain the skill of listening comprehension by taking part in collaborative discussions and presenting their ideas and knowledge.

After reading aloud a Scholastic Discover More book, show a video from the digital companion. Ask students questions about key details of the video such as:

• What is the topic? How do you know?

• What are the key details?

• What new information did you learn from the video?

• Can you provide more information about the people, places, things, or events?

Allow students time to answer by engaging them in a Think-Pair-Share, asking them to formulate their thoughts, share their ideas during a collaborative discussion with a partner, and then present their ideas to the group.

Students are expected to learn from books read aloud, factual information presented in conversations, and from videos. Play one of the videos on the digital companion and ask students to take notes on what they saw and what they heard. Then

play the video again and ask them to write down new things they saw and heard. Ask students to talk to a partner to identify the main idea and key details, and to discuss how watching the video twice helped them.

Students might know that the text features included in Scholastic Discover More books make learning factual information interesting and engaging, but help them understand the importance of charts, graphs, time lines, and other numerical representations. Ask students to discuss

what the visual representation means using words. Also ask them how the representation helps make the information easier to understand. Then have groups take turns presenting their thoughts to the whole group. Provide time for a question-and-answer session.

Have students write a script for a news presentation, as described on page 7. Next, have them present their script in a news report. Students might want to include opening and closing music, an interview with a scripted expert

or an eyewitness, or a video from the digital companion. If possible, introduce students to using new forms of technology by audio or video recording their presentation.

DISCOVER MORE TIP: Work with students to create a list of agreed-upon rules for discussions, such as listening when someone is talking, taking turns to speak, and talking about the topic under discussion.

DISCOVER EVEN MORE: Help students develop their auditory skills by using the listen buttons in the Emergent Reader books and asking them to describe the sounds.

Name: Student Worksheet

Read a portion or chapter of a Scholastic Discover More book. Then decide on the main idea and the key details. Prove that the main idea is correct with evidence from the text. Then provide a brief summary using your own words.

Keeping Track of Evidence

Main Idea: Key Detail: Evidence:

Key Detail: Evidence:

Key Detail: Evidence:

Summarize in your own words:

About the Writer of This Guide Suzanne Lauchaire is a former New York City teacher and reading specialist who taught second-grade students in the Bronx. She graduated from Manhattan College with a major in Early Childhood Education and Sociology. She received her Master of Arts from Teachers College, Columbia University, focusing on Applied Educational Psychology. Lauchaire has been associated with Scholastic for the past ten years, working for both the media and education departments, and most recently as a freelance writer. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Books are available from your local bookstore or usual supplier, or from:

Scholastic, 2931 East McCarty Street, P.O. Box 7502, Jefferson City, MO 65102.

Call toll-free 1-(800)-SCHOLASTIC.

The following Scholastic Discover More™ books are available:EMERGENT READER (PreK–Grade 1) Each: 32 pages • $7.99

CONFIDENT READER (Grades 2–4) Each: 80 pages • $12.99

EXPERT READER (Grades 5–8) Each: 112 pages • $15.99

Discover More Readers A New Leveled Reading Program • Each: 32 pages • $3.99

978-0-545-36571-0 Farm

978-0-545-34513-2 See Me Grow

978-0-545-36568-0 Animal Babies

978-0-545-34514-9 My Body

978-0-545-49566-0 Puppies and Kittens

978-0-545-49563-6 Emergency Vehicles

978-0-545-33028-2 Planets

978-0-545-33024-4 Penguins

978-0-545-36574-1 Bugs

978-0-545-36572-2 Dinosaurs

978-0-545-49561-5 Sharks

978-0-545-49562-8 Rainforest

978-0-545-50509-3 Reptiles

978-0-545-50516-1 Weather

978-0-545-33019-0 The Elements

978-0-545-33022-0 Ocean and Sea

978-0-545-38374-5 Night Sky

978-0-545-38373-8 Technology

978-0-545-47975-2 World War II

978-0-545-47973-8 Disasters

978-0-545-50511-6 Rocks and Minerals

978-0-545-50512-3 Titanic

Level 1

978-0-545-53376-8 Things That Go!

978-0-545-63631-5 Petting Zoo

Level 2

978-0-545-53377-5 Shark Attack!

978-0-545-57271-2 Fantastic Frogs

Level 3

978-0-545-53378-2 Volcanoes

978-0-545-57272-9 Titanic

SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

scholastic.com/discovermore